Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is clinically challenging due to the development of distant
metastasis following initial
therapy. Therefore, it is necessary to elucidate the mechanisms underlying
metastases to develop novel therapeutic strategies.
Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) has been directly linked to the development of human
tumors and may have both
tumor-suppressing and oncogenic properties. Although NPM1 is often overexpressed in solid
tumors of various histopathological origins, its specific function in mediating the development of NPC is still unknown. Here, we investigated the role of NPM1 in NPC and discovered that NPM1 was elevated in clinical NPC samples and served as a predictor of the worst prognosis in NPC patients. Furthermore, the upregulation of NPM1 promoted the migration and the
cancer stemness of NPC both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic analyses revealed that the
E3 ubiquitin ligase Mdm2 was recruited by NPM1 to induce the ubiquitination-mediated proteasomal degradation of p53. Ultimately, knockdown of NPM1 suppressed the stemness and EMT signals. In summation, this study demonstrated the role and the underlying molecular mechanism of NPM1 in NPC, providing the evidence for the clinical application of NPM1 as a therapeutic target for the treatment of patients with NPC.